Spain: Social partners agree bargaining framework for 2007
A new national
bargaining framework has been agreed by
On
this page:
Pay
Promoting open-ended
employment contracts
Training
Work organisation
Absence from work
Information and
consultation
Subcontracting
Equal treatment and
equal opportunities
Health and safety at
work
Corporate social
responsibility
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Spain's central trade union and employers' confederations have signed an agreement providing a framework for lower-level collective bargaining in 2007, the sixth successive accord of this type.
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On 7 February 2007, a new national framework agreement on collective bargaining was signed by representatives of the central employers' organisations, CEOE and CEPYME (representing small and medium-sized employers), and the main trade union confederations, CCOO and UGT. The "interconfederal agreement on collective bargaining in 2007" (Acuerdo Interconfederal para la Negociación Colectiva de 2007, ANC 2007 (PDF format, 180k) on the dinaserver website) lays down a framework for bargaining across Spain during 2007 and carries on from the previous central accord, which was concluded in January 2006 (EER 385 p.13) and expired at the end of December 2006.
The 2007 agreement is the latest in an
unbroken sequence of such deals since
2002
. The general consensus is that
these agreements have successfully contributed to the maintenance and creation
of employment and to moderate pay growth in
In keeping with these achievements, the 2007 agreement states that its aim is to balance the interests of all those who participate in collective bargaining. It seeks to put in place a framework on a number of issues, which can subsequently be applied in lower-level collective bargaining over regional, sectoral and company-level agreements.
The agreement sets out a framework for pay increases during 2007, as well as aiming to: provide a basis for inflation control and employment growth; increase investment; improve employees' purchasing power; and enhance the economic wellbeing of companies. It also contains provisions on issues such as lifelong learning, the use of temporary work, the regulation of subcontracting and the reduction of precarious employment. Further, it is envisaged that a tripartite social dialogue process will be set up during the course of 2007 to address the issue of access to the labour market for people with disabilities.
The signatories of the 2007 bargaining framework agreement believe in the importance of a pay policy that allows for moderate wage growth, in the context of the prevailing economic climate. They state that pay policy should aim to support the reduction of inflation and an increase in productivity, as well as to encourage investment and promote stable and secure employment.
Pay negotiations during 2007 should therefore take, as their first reference, the government's official inflation forecast for the year, which is 2%. Pay increases above the forecast rate of inflation may be awarded, as long as the rises do not exceed increases in productivity.
In addition, the agreement states that collective agreements should contain a wage revision clause (cláusula de revision salarial), which triggers a further increase if actual inflation is higher than the forecast level. However, the signatory parties state that this clause should not conflict with the aim of pay moderation.
Wage revision clauses already apply to nearly 80% of all workers covered by a collective agreement, providing them with a certain degree of purchasing power security. Because collectively agreed pay increases are usually based on forecast - rather than actual - inflation, and as actual inflation usually exceeds forecast inflation by a substantial margin, employees would lose purchasing power if they were not covered by a revision clause. For example, in 2005, according to social partner figures, the average agreed pay increase was 2.94%, as a result of the bargaining parties having used as a reference point the government's official inflation forecast of 2% for that year, and actual inflation was 3.4% as at November 2005. Purchasing power was safeguarded for the majority of workers in 2005, however, as around 75% were covered by revision clauses that paid out additional increases, thus bringing their pay increases up to the level of actual inflation. In 2006, the official inflation forecast was 2% whereas actual inflation was 3.5% on average for the year.
The 2007 framework agreement identifies the issues on which the central social partners believe negotiators should focus during 2007, which are set out below.
Promoting open-ended employment contracts
In terms of the type of employment contract offered to employees, the agreement states that collective agreements should promote the use of open-ended contracts (rather than fixed-term or temporary contracts) and encourage the practice of turning fixed-term and temporary contracts into open-ended employment relationships. Negotiators should also ensure that collective agreements promote employment stability and equal opportunities.
Negotiators should, according to the agreement, aim to agree on provisions that curb the practice of unjustifiably concluding successive fixed-term or temporary contracts, instead of offering employees an open-ended employment relationship. Further, the agreement states that the conclusion of open-ended part-time contracts may be a viable alternative to temporary contracts or the sustained use of overtime working.
One of the aims of the agreement is to help achieve the social partners' goals in the area of training. It states that collective agreements should promote training contracts, both as a means of enabling people to gain access to the labour market and as a way of enabling young people to gain qualifications.
In particular, the accord recommends that collective agreements should cover a range of training-related matters, such as:
The agreement states that work should be organised to allow companies to fulfil their potential in terms of productivity. Work organisation should also allow a company's workforce to engage in continuous professional development as well as permitting innovation, technological development and flexibility within the company. In addition, according to the agreement, functional mobility of the workforce can promote internal flexibility within a company, which can be linked to staff development.
The ways in which work organisation can be modified include working time arrangements such as changing the distribution of working hours, introducing annualised hours systems, allowing more flexibility in the organisation of working time and restricting unnecessary overtime working. The signatory parties to the agreement state that engaging in collective bargaining over the organisation of working time can be a productive way of ensuring that the needs of both the business and its employees are met.
The agreement highlights the use of new technology and in particular teleworking as an innovative way of organising work and working time to suit both the business and its employees. However, the signatory parties state that the use of teleworking must be voluntary and reversible, should the employee or the company wish it. Further, there must be equality of treatment and opportunity between teleworkers and their office-based colleagues.
The agreement states that unjustified absence from work leads to reduced productivity and can have a negative impact on labour costs and the competitiveness of individual companies. It may also reduce the capacity of a business to ensure employment and income stability.
Therefore, collective agreements should identify the causes of unjustified absence from work, in addition to addressing its effects. If possible, they should quantify unjustified absence from work and then establish criteria to reduce it. These could include measures to monitor absence and ensure that employee representatives are aware of absence levels and, if necessary, measures to control absence. Information on any measures taken to control absence and the results achieved should be disseminated by companies among their workforce.
The agreement underlines the current legal position, whereby workers' representatives are entitled to be informed and consulted on a range of issues. These include: the economic situation of the bargaining unit (sector, region, company, etc); forecasts relating to the volume and type of employment; types of employment contract; level of subcontracting; actual and planned restructuring; redundancies and planned alternatives to redundancies. The accord states that, in certain situations, it may be of use for the national trade union confederations to help with the implementation of information and consultation rights.
The accord says companies that are involved
in subcontracting should ensure that they comply with law 43/2006 of 29 December 2006
, which regulates
subcontracting in the construction sector. This legislation seeks to control
subcontracting, which trade unions believe is one of the main causes of
Equal treatment and equal opportunities
Collective agreements should ensure that they promote equality of treatment and opportunity and equal pay between men and women. They should also promote the recruitment of female workers in order to ensure that the workforce is evenly split between men and women, as far as is practically possible. Further, collective agreements should promote the recruitment of young workers and of those over the age of 45, to ensure an equal age distribution among the workforce.
The agreement states that there should be no discrimination against immigrant workers. Collective agreements should endeavour to promote labour market access for people with disabilities and ensure that companies adhere to the legal quota for the employment of workers with disabilities.
Companies should ensure that they contribute to improving risk prevention at work in order to reduce workplace accidents and injuries. Further, they should adhere to the provisions of the most recent health and safety legislation, the Occupational Risk Prevention Law (Ley de Prevención de Riesgos Laborales), implemented by Royal Decree 171/2004. The main focus of this legislation is to encourage employers to take more responsibility for reducing workplace accidents and injuries by increasing or decreasing employer industrial accident insurance contributions in line with their accident rate. In addition, the law updates the system of information on industrial accidents, and monitors compliance with the law more strictly.
The agreement states that companies should draw up a plan aimed at improving the health and safety of their workforce, placing particular emphasis on employees who are exposed to specific risks. Companies should also focus on monitoring occupational illnesses.
Further, collective bargaining at all levels, but particularly at sectoral level, should set out the number of training hours to which health and safety representatives are entitled.
Corporate social responsibility
The signatory parties state that the incorporation of social responsibility practices into corporate strategy is, for employer and employee representative bodies alike, a serious commitment. They state that corporate social responsibility (CSR) can make an important contribution to increasing business efficiency and competitiveness. Their joint aim in promoting CSR is to increase economic efficiency, raise the quality of employment, promote social wellbeing, enhance regional cohesion and further environmental sustainability.
The agreement will remain in force throughout 2007. At the end of the year, if the main employment and economic growth indicators remain largely unchanged, the signatory parties will extend it to cover 2008. Commentators argue that the successive conclusion of national bargaining framework agreements since 2002 highlights the good working relationship between the Spanish social partners at national level.
This article is based on material submitted by Raúl Martínez,
European Employment Review correspondent for
European Employment Review 400 (EER 400)
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